science

Semantic publishing

Semantic publishing is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Semantic publishing rather than just read about it. In short: Semantic publishing on the Web, or semantic web publishing, refers to publishing information on the web as documents accompanied by semantic markup. Semantic publication provides a way for computers to understand the structure and even the meaning of the published information, making information search and data integration more efficient.

Key takeaways

Semantic publishing belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Semantic publishing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Semantic publishing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Semantic publishing on the Web, or semantic web publishing, refers to publishing information on the web as documents accompanied by semantic markup. Semantic publication provides a way for computers to understand the structure and even the meaning of the published information, making information search and data integration more efficient. Although semantic publishing is not specific to the Web, it has been driven by the rising of the semantic web. In the semantic web, published information is accompanied by metadata describing the information, providing a "semantic" context. Although semantic publishing has the potential to change the face of web publishing, acceptance depends on the emergence of compelling applications. Web sites can already be built with all contents in both HTML format and semantic format. RSS1.0, uses RDF (a semantic web standard) format, although it has become less popular than RSS2.0 and Atom. Semantic publishing has the potential to revolutionize scientific publishing. Tim Berners-Lee predicted in 2001 that the semantic web "will likely profoundly change the very nature of how scientific knowledge is produced and shared, in ways that we can now barely imagine". Revisiting the semantic web in 2006, he and his colleagues believed the semantic web "could bring about a revolution in how, for example, scientific content is managed throughout its life cycle". Researchers could directly self-publish their experiment data in "semantic" format on the web. Semantic search engines could then make these data widely available. The W3C interest group in healthcare and life sciences is exploring this idea.

Two approaches Publish information as data objects using semantic web languages like RDF and OWL. Ontology is usually developed for a specific information domain, which can formally represent the data in its domain. Semantic publishing of more general information like product information, news, and job openings uses so-called shallow ontology. The SWEO Linking Open Data Project maintains a list of data sources that follow this approach as well as a list of Semantic Publishing Tools. Express structured data in markup languages with RDFa, embed or publish information using JSON-LD, Turtle, TriG syntaxes.

Examples

Examples of free or open source tools and services Ambra Project Archived 2015-02-06 at the Wayback Machine is open source software designed to publish open access journals with RDF. Used by PLoS. Semantic MediaWiki: An extension to the wiki application MediaWiki that allows users to semantically annotate data on the wiki, and then publish it in formats such as RDF XML. D2R Server: Tool for publishing relational databases on the Semantic Web as Linked Data and SPARQL endpoints. Utopia Documents Interactive documents dokieli is a client-side editor for decentralized article publishing in HTML+RDFa (and embeddable TriG, Turtle, JSON-LD), annotations and social interactions. It implements W3C specifications: Web Annotation, Linked Data Notifications, Activity Streams 2.0, ActivityPub. Employs WebID+TLS and WebID+OIDC for authentication, Web access control list and compliant with Linked Data Platform. Articles and annotations can be individually assigned with a Creative Commons license as well as a language. Its source code uses the Apache License, Version 2.0.

See also JSON-LD Metadata Metadata publishing Open Semantic Framework Semantic technology RDF feed Data feed

References

Further reading Tutorial on How to publish Linked Data on the Web Resources for semantic publishing SePublica 2011, the first international workshop on semantic publishing

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Semantic publishing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Semantic publishing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Semantic publishing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Semantic publishing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Semantic publishing

In research: Semantic publishing appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Semantic publishing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Semantic publishing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic publishing, Electronic publishing, Metadata publishing, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Semantic publishing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Semantic publishing in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Semantic publishing means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Semantic publishing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Semantic publishing in simple terms?

Why does Semantic publishing matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Semantic publishing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Semantic publishing.